Confirmed with Link: Brindley Signs

[majormajor]

obviously he has drawn a lot of comparisons/playing style comparisons to Cam Atkinson.

as it stands right now in this moment, do you think brindley has potential to be better than Cam (at his peak), equal as cam, or do you think his potential is less?

I think there is a big range of outcomes with Brindley, as far as we know. He's not built square like Cam is, so you still have to wonder if injuries might hold him back. On the other hand, I think Brindley has better hockey sense, maybe high end. That opens up the possibility that we'll have a very special player someday.

 

[ClevelandJacketFan]

Brindley, to me, seems much more well rounded than Cam. He won't put up those same big goal numbers, but he'll be on every specialist unit, and will probably put up the same amount of points as Cam because I think he can be an elite wing distributor.

 

[koteka]

I think there is a big range of outcomes with Brindley, as far as we know. He's not built square like Cam is, so you still have to wonder if injuries might hold him back.

I think a big question with Brindley is can he avoid concussions. Cam was able to. Calvert and Blanks weren’t.

 

[majormajor]

I think a big question with Brindley is can he avoid concussions. Cam was able to. Calvert and Blanks weren’t.

And I've seen this with many other prospects over the years. Short guys built square like Cam, or Mateychuk, or Gourde, or Stankoven, are much less likely to get elbowed in the head on routine contact. They get fewer concussions. Brindley isn't that thick and he has to be super careful. The league is littered with formerly promising small players who got hit in the head too often, like Tyler Johnson and Kailer Yamamoto. Brindley has already changed his playstyle significantly from his first year at Michigan when he was a physical buzzsaw. Most teams looked at that and didn't think he was going to survive the NHL physically. Thankfully for us he is so much more than a little physical player.